Jyri Määttä
Jyri Määttä is a successful Finnish F1 driver who will return to the top tier for the 2016 season at the McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team. Before that he raced for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes in 2012 the last time and won his first championship back in 2007. Widely viewed as a legend of the sport, Määttä was an influential performer in the early years of the championship. In a career spanning only a few short seasons, he won the Championship at the second attempt in 2007 before forging a successful period as showrunner of the series. He is regarded as one of the best qualifiers of his generation, scoring pole in 20% of his race entries before his return in 2016. This brilliant and serial one lap pace, led to the affectionate nickname atypical of his nation, "The Flying Finn". Debuting for Honda in 2006, Määttä scored pole in only his second race in Malaysia, going on to finish third. He impressed in the relatively uncompetitive Honda, scoring 3 further podiums and another Pole at the British Grand Prix. This fine form was rewarded and he was picked up by McLaren for 2007. It was here Määttä truly shone. A difficult first few races yielded a meagre return of points, however, a podium at the seasons third round in Bahrain began a run of form that would shift the Championship momentum in the Finn's favour. He won his first Grand Prix around the streets of Monaco and followed this up two weeks later with another win at the United States Grand Prix. From Bahrain onwards, Määttä only finished off the podium three times, two of these being retirements. Määttä won a crucial third race of the season at the Japanese Grand Prix, where Championship leader Will Neller retired through a mechanical issue. Second at the following race behind his teammate and other Championship rival, Joseph Willows, set up a thrilling three man battle for the championship in Brazil. The 2007 finale was one of the closest fought in OC history. Three drivers came to Brazil with a chance of winning. Willows led Neller by 3 points, Määttä was a further 3 points adrift of and 6 away from the leader. Considered by all as the underdog, Määttä needed to finish second or higher and hope Willows and Neller scored no points, otherwise he would lose the championship on a countback. The order was Willows, Määttä and Neller as the top 3 during the opening exchanges. Neller retired early after crashing at turn 1, ruling him out of title contention whilst Määttä continued to chase down Willows. Late on, momentum swung in a decisive way, Willows retired with only a handful of laps to go, and despite taking minor damage Määttä clung on to the second place he needed to clinch the championship. He became the first driver to win a championship being lower than second going into the decisive race. He also scored Pole in 7 of the 16 races that season, a conversion rate of almost 50%. 2008 was tougher as defending champion. Willows, reinvigorated by his championship loss the previous year, was unstoppable. By Monaco, Willows had two wins whilst Määttä had two podiums and a handful of points. Following a dismal Monaco Grand Prix where he had celebrated his first win the previous year, Määttä took the decision to retire from the championship to move into the full time show running of the series. It was a decision that shocked the community and his contribution was praised by many big names of the championship. As showrunner, Määttä presided over 7 full seasons before an enforced break in 2015. In 2012, Määttä returned to racing action with McLaren as a temporary replacement for Evan Byrne. Määttä showed he had lost none of his former pace, winning his second race back in Belgium and winning again the following week in Italy. He would win again for a 6th career win in India, en-route to 8th overall in the standings, despite only competing in 9 races that season. This fine form led many to call for a full time return to the championship and it was rumoured that McLaren were lining up a full time return for the popular Finn in 2013, but Määttä declined. In late 2015, McLaren announced Määttä would return for the 2016 season full time. This provided not only a reunion with McLaren, but also a return to Honda who had powered his original debut drive in F1 back in 2006. GP4OC Results *Season in progress. Category:Drivers